Those words, combined with the tight heat of him around me, are all it takes. My orgasm crashes through me, pleasure so intense it borders on pain. I bury myself as deep as I can inside him as I come, marking him from the inside, claiming him in the most primal way possible.
At the same time, I lean down and sink my teeth into the junction of his neck and shoulder, leaving a mark there. Noah gasps, his back arching beneath me, his hands fisting in my hair.
For several long moments, I stay like that—buried inside him, my face pressed against his neck, breathing in the familiar scent of his skin.
Eventually, my arms start to tremble from holding my weight, and I shift, carefully pulling out. I collapse onto the rug beside him, both of us breathing hard.
“You left a mark on my neck, didn’t you?” Noah says after a moment, his fingers coming up to touch the tender spot. There’s no real accusation in his voice, just resigned amusement.
I glance over, unable to keep the satisfied smile off my face at the sight of the reddening bite mark. “Maybe.”
Noah rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling too. “My parents and Maya are going to see it,” he points out, only half-annoyed. “I can’t exactly wear a turtleneck in summer.”
I laugh, rolling onto my side to trace the mark with my fingertips. “I’m pretty sure your parents know we’re having sex, Noah. We’ve been living together for over a year.”
“Knowing in theory and seeing evidence are two very different things,” Noah protests, but he’s laughing too, his hand coming up to cover mine where it rests on his neck.
He’s right, of course. And in theory, I should feel bad about marking him up before a family lunch. But there’s something possessive and primitive in me that likes the idea of everyone seeing. Likes the visible proof that Noah is mine, just as much as I’m his.
“I love you,” I say instead of apologizing, leaning in to press a kiss to the mark.
Noah’s expression softens, that smile I’ve come to think of as just for me spreading across his face. “I love you too,” he says, pulling me down for a proper kiss. “Even when you’re a possessive caveman.”
“Especially then,” I correct against his lips, feeling him smile.
We lie there for another moment, basking in the afterglow, before Noah sighs and pushes himself up onto his elbows.
“We should probably shower,” he says reluctantly. “They’ll be here soon.”
I nod, but make no move to get up, too captivated by the sight of him—flushed and marked and thoroughly debauched on our kitchen floor. His hair is a mess, sticking up in all directions. There’s a trail of faint older bruises along his collarbone, leading to the fresher bite marks on his stomach and hips.
I look lower and see my release starting to leak out of him, onto the rug beneath us.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Noah warns, though his pupils dilate slightly. “We don’t have time for round two.”
“I wasn’t—” I start to protest, but Noah raises an eyebrow, and I laugh. “Okay, I was. But I was also thinking how lucky I am.”
Noah’s expression softens again. He pushes himself up fully, then holds out a hand to help me up.
“Sap,” he accuses, but his voice is fond.
I let him pull me to my feet, using the momentum to bring him close for another kiss.
“Your sap,” I remind him.
“Mm,” Noah hums against my lips. “Always.”
***
We pause at the bedroom door, peering inside to check on Pumpkin. She’s curled up in a perfect orange-and-white spiral on our bed, one paw twitching slightly as she dreams. Noah took her for a long walk earlier—part of his Sunday morning routine—and she’s completely wiped out, snoring softly against my pillow, where she definitely isn’t supposed to be drooling.
But I can’t bring myself to care. Not when she looks so peaceful. Not when Noah is looking at her with that soft expression that makes my chest ache.
“We should really train her to sleep in her own bed,” I whisper, not meaning it for a second.
Noah gives me a sidelong glance, lips quirking up. “Sure, Dr. O’Reilly. You’re the one who lets her sleep on your chest during movie nights.”
I can’t argue with that. From the moment we brought Pumpkin home—the day after we signed the lease on this house, before we’d even moved all our furniture in—she’s had me wrapped around her little paw.
